Children's Inquiry: Using Language to Make Sense of the World

This fascinating exploration of children’s inquiry―what it is, how it develops, and how it contributes to children’s learning―will help teacher educators and elementary teachers to understand, appreciate, and foster children’s inquiry in classrooms. In this volume, Lindfors introduces a theoretical framework for understanding children’s inquiry language―not as linguistic forms (questions), but as communication acts in which the child brings another into the act of sense-making. By closely examining these “inquiry acts,” the author uncovers new possibilities for our understanding of how children learn and how teachers can foster their learning in classrooms. The text features a wide range of voices and writings, including transcripts from homes and classrooms, class exercises, research findings, classroom episodes, and the author’s own reflections.

Judith Wells Lindfors is a professor of curriculum and instruction (language and literacy) at The University of Texas at Austin.